Epic day on the Diamond yesterday. The snowfield was a real pain in the ass at zero dark thirty in approach shoes with no ice axe or trekking poles. I would highly recommend yak trax, trekking poles or an ice axe for the approach to the North chimney. Wear it on your pack to Broadway and then leave it clipped to the innumerable tat that's scattered about.

To clarify I don't mean all three, just any one of the aforementioned accoutrements will serve you well

Was up there 2 weeks ago and there was still a fair sized snow field before gaining the talus leading up to the Sharkstooth, don't know if there is a path to the left that avoids the snow or not. Micro spikes would have made for an easy crossing.

Was there 2 days ago. There is snow in only 2 spots, both before the bivy site (on the obvious flat cliff below Sharkstooth). We crossed both without crampons or ice axes, just kicked a few steps with boots. My partner, who was in approach shoes thought that light crampons would have been better. She noted that it would be a bad slide on the snow slope just before the bivy.

On a serious note, I was wondering if anyone has been up Lambs lately? I attempted Kiener's last year in late August, and as soon as the sun it the top of the slide it just started consistently spewing sizable rocks and ice every half a minute or so. We called it, and I vowed to come back this year. Wellllll...the summer got away from me, but I'm hoping to have a go at it this week maybe?

Well, it rained a fair amount everyday for the last five days including through yesterday evening. A dusting of snow was visible above 12,000 ft some of those days. Much dryer air is moving into the state today and tomorrow. So, routes that dry out quickly may be ok. But, routes that see seepage from above may remain wet for a while. I suspect Flying Buttress could be good to go by tomorrow since it doesn't have much terrain above it that seeps onto the route. I couldn't speak for Pervertical.

Curious about the condition of the Flying Buttress and Pervertical. Friend was on cables yesterday and said things were pretty iced up, and the diamond was super wet.

Haven't been to longs, but I know that the Indian Peaks are crazy wet. Went up to Devil's Thumb last sunday and had to turn back because the cloud cover came in. Cloudy from ~5am to 11 above treeline. Most of the cliffs up there looks pretty wet.

Really would like to climb Sharks tooth (canceled my plans twice in summer because of rain). Has anybody been there recently? Hoping the snow and ice will melt by Sunday.

It's in good shape. Three weeks ago there were 2 short (50-100 FT) sections of frozen snow to cross. Boots and a trekking stick worked well. The upper crossing (to the bivy site) has a steep section below it, so a slide there could be serious. Maybe take yak trax, or such, if using approach shoes.